pa 

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.JL37C6 
1905 



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Glass 



Book :-—- 1 



COl^'RIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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7 V 

4^CONSOLATIO 

A MEMORIAL ODE 



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C ONSOL ATIO 

Ode in memory of those members of 
the Class of Nineteen Hundred and 
Three of ^tanfoi;d University who died 
during the month of their graduation 



Raymond Macdonald Alden 



Vir sapiens laetus ex his tenebris 
in lucem illam excesserit .... 
Quo cum venerimus, turn denique vivemus. 
-CICERO. 




Paul Elder and Company 
Publishers, San Francisco 






Copyright, 1903 
by Paul Elder and Company 



The Tomoy< Presa 
San Francisco 



This Ode was read at the Annual Commencement of 
the University, May 25, 1903, and is published at the 
request of certain of the graduates and their friends. 




^H£ vernal hills bend close, 
in friendly mass, 

And Nature warmly 
smiles 
Where golden poppies glow 

among the wheat. 
And broadcast blossoms 
mark the advancing feet 
Of Summer's dauntless legions, as they pass 
The valley's welcoming miles. 
The earth keeps holiday. 
And they that lean to listen hear her say: 
All who are young, rejoice today with me I 
Break forth in singing, each in his degree I 
But chiefly you for whom. 
While all the world makes room, 
Your Mother lifts her gates in high solemnity. 



11. 



UT ah, she waits; and why 
Is sober youth's reply 
Delayed, while doubts op- 
press 
His natural eagerness? 
Why does the pageant, at 

the gate 
Where myriad hopes and 
longings wait. 
Pause, as though stricken by some shatter- 
ing fate? 

While some, in mute distress. 
Look to and fro, as for a comrade's face, 
When none is marching in his vacant place. 




III. 




I E saw the fair young Mother 
of the throng 
Standing to bless them, and 

to hear their song 
Of tender parting, ere they 

broke away, 
With mingled tearful smiles 
and smiling tears 
Greeting their free new day; — 
It was but yestermorn, men say. 
And yet to her already it seemeth years. 
For while she waited, smiling, in her hand 
The keys of the tomorrows, which she gave 
Her children, bidding them through all the 

land 
Go forth, and open, conquer, and be brave,— 

There came a shadowing wing 
That rose from out the underworld of Death, 
The taint of nightshade on its hated breath. 
And swept the withered leaves of Autumn 
into Spring. 

And when its presence passed, 
Lo, of her children there were some whose 

place 
Was empty, and the smile upon her face 
Was frozen in the winter of that blast. 



IV. 




|0 stands she, pale and still, 
With the mist yet o*er her 

eyes, 
And the tremulous surprise 
Of her grief having its will 
With the drifting of her 

hair. 
Young, loving, tender, fair. 
Now will she take her other children home 
Closer to the warm beating of her heart; 
Yet from the folded flock her yearnings roam 
To them who go for evermore apart. 




NE sacred place, the central 

shrine of all 
Her joys and sorrows, now 
at length hath grown 
Complete, since under 
its wall 
Her thousand sons and 
daughters, at her call 
And that of Death, have come to mourn as 

one, — 
One heart that common griefs and fears have 
made. 

Here they had sung and prayed, 
Here worshiped, in the shade 
Of cloistered aisle and roof of storied stone; 
Here rolled the organ's solemn voice, — 
Now whispered "Hush!"— now cried "Re- 
joice!" 
Here youth and love had plighted troth, 
While seraphs leaned and smiled on both; 
Here crimson-tinted sunlight, reverent, kissed 
The altar of the holy Eucharist. 

But one thing still was missed,— 
Sorrow, to fully consecrate the shrine 
Of love and pity and of hope divine. 
Now, in the mystic presence of our dead, 
It hath been perfected. 



VL 




UT they ! O they were young, 
and hoped so much! 
The brow of youth 
was bright 
With dew that shimmered 

in the morning light 
Of promises and prophecies, 
e'en such 
As none had dared to dream in earlier day. 

And in this time of May, 
One looking in the deeps of their young eyes 
Caught embryo glimpses of their coming 
strength— 

Shadows of great emprise, 
And ghostly continents they should explore; 
New^ Darien peaks w^hereon to stand at 
length. 

Masters of untold lore. 
And softer lights foretold the dreams 
Of the sweet pangs of love, that sometimes 

seems 
The dearest hope which all this weary world 

redeems. 
O heart of heaven I must now this bourgeon 

bloom. 
Blotting its happy future from our sight, 
Out from the Spring's illimitable light, 
Fade in the dateless empire of the tomb ? 



VII. 




lO! saith our heart; ah, no! 
Their life fadeth not so. 
Here on the brink they 

stood 
Of all that is great and 

good; 
They lived for the coming 
hope: 

Their future hath caught them up. 
Love and the world before them— 
Infinite kingdoms o*er them— 
They sooner found than we the path 
To that their coming empire hath, 
Borne from us all in love and not in wrath. 
The continents that swam before their eyes 
In the young conqueror's vision. 
Unfold in realms elysian. 
And peerless unsealed peaks rise ever in 
their skies. 

Dropping our humbler keys. 
They open great tomorrows of the spirit. 
And evermore magnificently inherit 
The golden doors of nobler mysteries. 
Through vaulted cloisters of new wisdom led 
By masters such as freer creatures merit 

(Great souls of ages dead). 
Their life and lore increase, which here have 
vanished. 



VIII. 




jOj^while our Mother spreads 
her gates apart 
For those who enter bound- 
less life today, 
She cries "All hail!" to speed 
them on their way, 
" All hail! "and then— 
ic^V^^W "Farewell!" 

And in the secret chambers of her heart 
There echoes low the same farewell and hail 
For those who in the life immortal dwell. 
She bids them forward go,— 
Limitless lands explore, — 
Calls sweetly to them: "Still my children, 

though 
I see your upturned faces here no more!" 
And unto us: "Be strong! 
God's years are sure and long. 
There is time enough and room enough for 

all 
The work and all the sorrow 'neath the sun ; 
Do well today: today is never done: 
If one world fail, another answereth your 
call." 



T,.a»«._M«p£g .- 1999 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

lllllllilliiiilL 

015 988 354 1 ^ 



